On hanging pheasants

hanging game

i found most of these post to say the least, interesting. most of your older at least foreign cook books,(england) all hang the birds for days. the joke here from the old timers was to let them hand for at least two weeks, throw away the birds and cook the board, nuff said. as far as hanging animals like deer, the science involved says it does no good, as far as wild taste, don't know what you are talking about, do you call pork or lamb wild? no, just different. i actually pick a fair number of pheasants a year and learned years ago that as soon as i have the bird in the hand, i cradle the gun in my arm, continue walking to keep up with my partner and pull feathers while doing so. if the body is warm, the feathers come out really easy and rarely do i tear the skin. let them cool and you are in trouble, dipping them later in hot water does little to help with pheasants and it stinks. chickens hold up pretty well that way but not pheasant. when i shoot turkey i pull the feathers immediately and it is just a few minutes job and the feathers stay in the woods and not float around the kitchen. keeps the queen happier. had pheasant mac nuggets for supper, found no need to hang them just gobbled them up cheers
 
All right. So I hung my bird in the cellar from a Thurs to Tues.

I brined it with a simple equal parts salt/brown sugar mix for about 5-6 hrs.

I didn't have the time to pluck it so I just skinned it and cut it into three pieces. Breast, and thigh/legs. A little salt/pepper and some olive oil then onto the grill!

Most of you should have cringed at that! Skinned pheasant on the grill? Sacrilege!

Actually turned out outstanding. Moist, flavorful, tender and pheasanty (if that's a word, if not, it is now.) The breast was terrific. I let the thighs go a little too long but they were still pretty good. Even my teenage daughter liked it.

IMO the brine certainly helped but the hanging made it tender, and that breast was tender.
 
hanging pheasant

ok, got me confused, are you saying that you brined them with the feathers on. i think i understand hanging and i know i understand using a brine, not sure both, seems like one would defeat the other. see my post on how to get the feathers off

cheers
 
mustistuff said:
ok, got me confused, are you saying that you brined them with the feathers on. i think i understand hanging and i know i understand using a brine, not sure both, seems like one would defeat the other. see my post on how to get the feathers off

cheers
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No skinned them, then brined, then grilled with nothing but salt, pepper and olive oil.
 
As I recall, brining...or soaking in salt water...serves to remove blood from the tissue where it may have clotted.

I think.
 
hanging birds

ok guy, here goes. just did some research for what ever that is worth. generally here is what i found. if the bird is gut shot, eat it now: hang at between 50 and 55 deg. for at least 3 days, 7 is better and 50 deg. is better than 55: eating the heart etc. is iffy: hang by the head, maybe a wire through their bill: leaving the feathers on keeps the skin from drying out too much: dry pluck the bird, no water: bacteria forms rapidly over 60 deg: both taste and bacteria come together at about 7 days and that is the best time to have dinner. think it is easier to just not over cook the bird and add whatever seasoning you like. think the idea of hanging the birds came from hunters that were too lazy to take care of their harvest and were hoping the ol' lady would do it for them so hung them in the shed out of sight out of mind.

cheers
 
brinning

salt water will remove some amounts of blood, usually reserved for things like liver or otherwise meat that has a high percentage of blood in it. pheasants don't. brinning adds moisture to the bird, salt helps keep bacteria from developing, the brine usually also contains a flavoring, a turkey takes about at least over night to 24 hours, pheasants likely 6 or so hours. if you smoke your birds, you must brine them or you will have shoe leather. keeping your brine cold is important. by the way, the quickest way to get a tough bird is to cook it past just slightly pink, go past that very much you will end up with rubber or wait several hours till it fall off the bone, then why hang it. chop them up into pieces and make pheasant mac nuggets out of them, makes ya want to go hunting again

cheers again
 
mustistuff said:
salt water will remove some amounts of blood, usually reserved for things like liver or otherwise meat that has a high percentage of blood in it. pheasants don't. brinning adds moisture to the bird, salt helps keep bacteria from developing, the brine usually also contains a flavoring, a turkey takes about at least over night to 24 hours, pheasants likely 6 or so hours. if you smoke your birds, you must brine them or you will have shoe leather. keeping your brine cold is important. by the way, the quickest way to get a tough bird is to cook it past just slightly pink, go past that very much you will end up with rubber or wait several hours till it fall off the bone, then why hang it. chop them up into pieces and make pheasant mac nuggets out of them, makes ya want to go hunting again

cheers again
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Real secret is the brown sugar, no dangerous bacteria can live in a sugar solution if it's strong enough. Between the salt solution and sugar after, washed down with Maker's Mark straight, a my old Irish Priest used to say, "that out to scare the devil out of you", and keep you on the straight and narrow. If I had fifth of that I would try it! Or maybe just sleep and think about it.:cheers:
 
I've never eaten a Sharptail gouse but have eaten plenty of Prairie Chickens and find them less than desireable in the flavor department. BUT, I was listening to a radio show that was recorded on one of the states websites. The guy from the wildlife and parks said to make a Sharptail taste better it's best to pluck it, gut it and stuff the inside with prairie grass as soon as you have it in hand. Then when you get to a water source to flush the cavity out. According to him it makes them much much tastier. I'm going to try this with the next chickens I shoot.

With pheasant however, I don't find them bad tasting at all. Really don't know why anyone would need to hang one for days. I think they are fantastic tasting!
 
Its not because they are bad tasting, I eat many of mine fresh, but they are at best bland in taste. Hanging developes the flavor and texture of a bird.
 
I like pheasant:) eat a lot of em. Out on the prairie and from the freezer. Those that are cleaned and eaten at camp don't get a chance to age. Cleaned, cooled, cut up, dusted in flour and fried. :thumbsup: I often clean birds the next day, if their shot up they get cleaned right away, legs and breast. Those that are cleaned and aged in the cooler for a few days are more tender, more flavor? haven't seen it.
 
bad taste

as far as i'm concerned, sharp tails taste every bit as bad as sage grouse. they would make rotten liver taste like heaven. sage grouse weren't even fun to hunt. sharp tails were a hoot but if ya can't eat them, leave em' alone. can't believe that you could do anything to help their taste and don't for a minute think the grass has to do with anything but may retard spoilage by helping the bird to cool down. maybe he was throwing away the bird and putting the grass in his salad, who knows?
 
Kismet said:
As I recall, brining...or soaking in salt water...serves to remove blood from the tissue where it may have clotted.

I think.
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When brining meat you create a reverse osmosis effect, in which water that is already in the cells of the meat comes out and is replaced with the salt/sugar water from the brine, which intern flavors and helps maintain moistness in the cell walls of the proteins.
 
Beef is gutted and skinned fast, I mean within minutes. Never aged with guts and skin.:eek: Then into a very controlled environment at temps just above freezing. Dry aged beef has a lot of loss and trim, and not done much in the USA now days. Just way to much waste on an expensive critter.
Most of the high quality beef in the USA is "Wet Aged" in a vacuum sealed plastic bag for just a few days. Dry aged will take about 3 weeks then only done with high quality steaks.

And,:) A young beef say, 15 months old, hard fed for at least 100 days will be very good eating with 1 week dry aging.

Kind of funny :10sign: comparing an aged beef with hanging a pheasant guts and all in a garage or tool box. :cheers:
 
mnmthunting said:
Beef is gutted and skinned fast, I mean within minutes. Never aged with guts and skin.:eek: Then into a very controlled environment at temps just above freezing. Dry aged beef has a lot of loss and trim, and not done much in the USA now days. Just way to much waste on an expensive critter.
Most of the high quality beef in the USA is "Wet Aged" in a vacuum sealed plastic bag for just a few days. Dry aged will take about 3 weeks then only done with high quality steaks.

And,:) A young beef say, 15 months old, hard fed for at least 100 days will be very good eating with 1 week dry aging.

Kind of funny :10sign: comparing an aged beef with hanging a pheasant guts and all in a garage or tool box. :cheers:
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Not funny at all unless you've never tried a hung pheasant and you should.
 
Hobie1026 said:
I hang most of the birds I shoot if I'll be home in a day or two. I've hung quail, pheasants, and chukars and think it improves the flavor on all of them. I only do it if it's 40 degrees or cooler though.

I did get an earful from my GF the first time she pulled in the garage saw a bunch of birds hanging from the ceiling. :p She's okay with it now.

Not to hijack the thread but I would love to hear any tips on plucking. I've never roasted a pheasant because I've never been able to keep the skin on. Every time I start to pluck I tear the skin.
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I have pretty good luck plucking them ASAP after shooting them. A lot of times I kill the last bird of the day, I just pluck it while walking back to the truck, often done in 10 minutes or so. Words on 80% or so, some just seem to tear skin and not what to pluck.

I have aged birds, just haven't seen much difference. I often leave birds go 3-4 days late season before I clean them. However, when the temp is averaging 40 degrees or less I don't consider that aging. On a different note, I know some hunters that age there deer or elk 7 days doesn't matter if it -15 or 80 degrees! In fact one year a lot of elk went to the dump because it was so warm during the rifle season and the idiots didn't take care of there game! :mad:
 
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